Dispute Over Leak Story

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

The New York Times has now turned against reporter Judith Miller (search) over her work on the CIA leak story that sent her to jail for 85 days. Times public editor Byron Calame (search) suggested it would be better if Miller, who is currently on leave, does not come back to work. He said a Times story published on October 16 laid bare a "disturbing" revelation about Miller and the "journalistic shortcuts that she seems comfortable taking."

And an e-mail from Times editor Bill Keller stated that Miller "misled" the newspaper's editors by not telling them that she had been among several journalists told about the CIA officer by Bush administration officials. And Times columnist Maureen Dowd (search) wrote that if Miller does return to the paper and reports about threats to the nation's security "the institution most in danger would be the newspaper in your hands."

Miller, jailed for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating the leak, fired back in a blistering e-mail to Calame. She said, "I'm dismayed by your essay... You accuse me of taking journalistic 'shortcuts' without presenting evidence. You never bothered to mention... my decision to spend 85 days in jail to honor the pledge I made. I'm saddened that you... have blurred the core issue of that stand."

Charitable Donations Questioned

New Jersey Democratic Senator Jon Corzine (search), locked in a competitive race for governor, gave or loaned more than $2.5 million last year to black churches. Corzine has since received the endorsement of more than two-dozen black ministers, raising questions about whether it's generosity or politics.

"Blatant quid pro quo-ism" said Democrat Walter Fields Junior (search), a former political director of New Jersey's NAACP (search). Fields went on to say, "We have always had wealthy candidates running for office. What we have never had is that individual wealth being used in such a direct way, and somehow we're supposed to look the other way."

But Corzine, a former Wall Street executive with a portfolio worth a reported $260 million, defended his actions and cited the millions he has given to other organizations as well including Planned Parenthood. Blacks make up 11 percent of the electorate in New Jersey.

School Distancing Itself from Activist

Howard University Law School (search) is distancing itself from an October 14 event we told you about last week in which Dr. Kamau Kambon (search), a black activist and former North Carolina State University professor, called for the mass killing of white people. School officials acknowledge they rented out space for a panel discussion by Black media groups on Hurricane Katrina and Issues Facing African Americans, but insist the event was "Neither planned nor sanctioned by Howard University" and "The statements do not in any way reflect the views of Howard University... We totally repudiate the statements expressed by Dr. Kambon."

Kambon was quoted as saying, "We have to exterminate white people off the face of the planet... White people want to kill us... they want to kill you because that is part of their plan." No word on whom, exactly, the hall was actually rented to.

— FOX News' Aaron Bruns contributed to this report